Treatment with activated vitamin D may reduce the risk of death in severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients by about one-fourth. A study published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology treated one group of patients with calcitriol, an oral form of activated vitamin D, to lower their parathyroid hormone levels, which can weaken the bones. Another group was not being treated with calcitriol.
 
Researchers concluded the overall risk of death in the patients taking the calcitriol was 26 percent lower than those not taking activated vitamin D.

This article originally appeared in the July 2008 issue of Renal Flash.